20 THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



great care should be exercised to secure a good article. Care 

 should be taken in all cases that the milk be given warm ; cold 

 milk produces scouring, and all manner of evils. The cake may 

 be soaked in hot water first, or else added to the milk and 

 gently heated ; in either case it produces a rich soup, which is 

 very palatable and nutritious ; a handful of finely- ground oat- 

 meal may be added, and a little later a small quantity of fine 

 pollards. Eock-salt and chalk should always be placed within 

 reach. One great advantage in the plan of separation consists 

 in the earlier date at which the calf eats. As soon as this is 

 accomplished, we may by degrees discontinue the liquid; at 

 first supplying it only once a day, and soon leaving it off 

 altogether. And thus a good cow will rear eight to ten calves, 

 provided her produce is entirely used for this purpose. 



The greatest trouble in rearing arises from scouring, to which 

 calves are very liable. This may occur from various causes, but 

 it is an evidence that the food is not properly digested. In 

 the farm prize report of 1884, E.A.S.E. Journal, vol. 20, new 

 series, page 539, will be found a valuable recipe for this 

 disease. Mrs. C. Holmes, of Burley Fields, near Stafford, who 

 is very successful in rearing calves, states " that after long 

 experienced and serious losses, she believes she can now cure 

 the scour, which she is convinced arises from the new milk 

 being too rich for the calf's digestion. When the disturbance 

 is first manifest, the food is changed, a dose of castor oil and 

 laudanum is given to allay irritation ; boiled skim milk and 

 sago, nearly cold, are substituted for the new milk ; and if 

 this food proves too rich, then boiled sago alone, which is 

 also given cold. " The second day, and until the diarrhoea is 

 stopped, one or two tablespoonfuls of the following mixture, 

 viz., 4oz. prepared chalk, loz. grains of paradise, 2oz. cummin 

 seed, 2oz. aniseed, well mixed in a pint of starch gruel, to 

 which may be added twenty drops of laudanum." 



When a month old, calves will begin to nibble a little sweet 

 hay, finely- sifted chaff, pulped roots, and meal. We cannot 

 begin too soon to teach them to eat, although the longer 

 they get the skim milk and porridge, the better for future 

 growth. Calves weaned too early seldom thrive well afterwards. 

 Oil-cake, crushed, and then boiled to a jelly, and mixed either 



